


Who You Gonna Call?

by DuskenDreams (From_Dusk_to_Dawn), martxoa



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: F/F, Gen, Ghost Hunting AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-02
Updated: 2016-11-02
Packaged: 2018-08-28 17:01:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8454556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/From_Dusk_to_Dawn/pseuds/DuskenDreams, https://archiveofourown.org/users/martxoa/pseuds/martxoa
Summary: When your client is convinced their house is haunted, who you gonna call? Professor Laura Hollis of Silas University, of course. Carmilla doesn't believe in ghosts. Laura couldn't be more sure they exist.  What better place than a spooky old house to see who's right?





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Thisisme_23](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thisisme_23/gifts).



> For Julie. Happy birthday.

Carmilla sat in the back of the classroom, drumming her fingers and waiting for the lecture to be over. In front of her, she surveyed the sea of students, most of whom looked ready for the class to be over as well. Of the hundred or so laptops open in front of her, about two-thirds were open to facebook or tumblr. There were a handful still vigilantly trying to take notes, but many were zoned out.

Carmilla couldn’t blame them. 

As passionate and exciting as their professor was--a Professor...Hollis if she remembered correctly--it was four o’clock on a Friday afternoon. Nothing in the world could be more exciting than the prospect of the weekend that beckoned, hovering just barely out of reach.

“Alright guys. Thanks for your attention. I know you want to get out of here for the weekend.” Professor Hollis broke through her thoughts as if reading her mind. “Please read the next section on the syllabus--the part titled Supernatural Hauntings--and I’ll see you on Monday!”

All of a sudden there was a mass shifting as students packed their bags to leave. 

Carmilla waited impatiently for the last of them to trickle out, a few stopping to speak with Professor Hollis.

She smiled at each of them warmly, addressing them by name and joking with them.

Well. 

At least Professor Hollis _seemed_ normal.

But Carmilla had dealt with all types in her job. And she knew just as well as anyone that even normal looking people could be complete wackos.

Carmilla eyed Professor Hollis again. She was pretty hot. The professor look definitely suited her. Maybe even if this lead didn’t pan out it wouldn’t be a complete waste…

The last student finally stopped talking with Professor Hollis, who moved to her desk, beginning to organize notes and papers. Carmilla cracked her knuckles. Showtime. 

“Professor Hollis?” 

Professor Hollis looked up. Her brow furrowed, and there was a brief pause before she said, “I’m sorry, I thought I memorized all your names by now.” 

“I’m not in your class,” Carmilla answered, walking to the front of the classroom. “Can I talk to you?”

“Are you in Professor Cochrane’s class?” 

“What?” 

“Students always want me to talk to her because I was one of her favorite students, but if you want an extension on one of her assignments--” 

“No--I don’t even know who she is. I’m not even _in_ college.” 

“...Oh. Sorry about that. Then who are you?” 

Carmilla reached into her pocket, showing Professor Hollis her badge. “Carmilla Karnstein, private investigator.” 

Her eyes widened. “Wait, _me?_ Um...why? I thought LaFontaine had that all cleared up and besides, I wasn’t even there when it happened. Supposedly. Supposedly happened.” 

Carmilla raised an eyebrow. “I have no idea what you are talking about.” 

She relaxed visibly. “Then what seems to be the problem?” 

“Not a problem with you. I have a client that is convinced she has a problem that is...well, not entirely _natural._ You know?” 

“...Supernatural. You have a client that thinks their problem is supernatural.” 

“Well, paranormal. That’s uh,” Carmilla squinted at the board, “your subject, right? ‘Paranormal Studies and Phenomenon?’” 

Professor Hollis adjusted her glasses.

“Yes. That’s right. There’s limited field studies, but there exists a broad base of anecdotal research extending back for nearly as long as we have evidence of human capacity for transmitting such stories. At the very least, such consistent belief warrants the need for rigorous analysis. It’s actually amazing how little field research has been done when you consid--”

Carmilla held up a hand, cutting Professor Hollis off.

“Okay Doc Brown whatever--”

“Laura.”

Carmilla blinked. “What?”

Professor Hollis--Laura--blushed a little.

“My name is Laura.”

“Right. Cupcake, I don’t really care. I just need someone with legitimate credentials to back me up on this and I can be on my merry way.”

Laura’s brow furrowed.

“...right. What exactly was it that you needed?”

Carmilla hopped up onto Laura’s desk, leaning into her space a little. Laura frowned, but didn’t lean away.

“My client thinks she’s got something supernatural haunting her. I just need you to give me a solid explanation why there isn’t.”

Laura frowned a little harder at that. “Why are you so sure that there _isn’t_ something supernatural at play?”

Carmilla gave her an incredulous look. “You don’t seriously _believe_ this crap do you? I thought you just studied stuff around it. You’re an actual professor with a real PhD for crying out loud.”

Laura pushed her glasses farther up her face. “You sound just like all of my first time students,” she answered, “all of them think this class will be an easy A because ghosts and supernatural creatures don’t _really_ exist. Well, the freshman think that…” Laura wrinkled her nose a little, “by around the third semester of being at Silas they realize that’s not true. I totally believe ghosts and other supernatural creatures exist. I don’t think you can be here for long and think otherwise.” 

“Like, vampires exist.” 

“I have some theories, but they are probably way more terrifying than your typical tween romance variety.” 

“Werewolves.” 

“Some of my students might be, but I’m obviously too polite to ask.” 

“You think there are _werewolves_ that are going to class here right now.” 

“Especially here. Silas is a _majorly_ hinky school. A lot more suspiciously supernatural activity than in other places, which is why I work here.” 

“Oh, of course,” Carmilla answered dryly, “you have a theory on that too? A hellmouth, maybe?” 

“I haven’t figured it out yet, but _how cool_ would that be? I hope so!” 

Laura cleared her throat, trying to look professional again. “But anyway...I’m not going to say anything one way or the other unless I’m presented with this client’s evidence.” 

Carmilla rolled her eyes. “So what? You think this is Sunnydale and you’re the next Buffy?”

Laura pursed her lips. “Miss Karnstein, just because you do not believe it, does not mean you need to mock my profession. There’s plenty of evidence of a strong supernatural presence in Silas.”

“So you _don’t_ own Buffy on DVD?”

Laura squirmed uncomfortably. “I...well...I wouldn’t say I _don’t_ own all seven seasons and the comic book spin-offs.”

Carmilla laughed. “Oh that’s even worse. You have the seasons after it was even on tv. You don’t even have the excuse of thinking what’s-his-face was pretty after you swap to comics.”

“It’s a cult classic!” Laura said indignantly, “And it was Sarah Michelle Gellar actually…”

Carmilla smirked. So she _did_ have a chance. “The only reason worth watching that show.”

“It was a good show! Joss Whedon won an Emmy for--you know what, I’m not debating this with you.” Laura scowled as she turned away slightly.

Carmilla let her fingers drum along the desk.

“Right so are you going to help me or what?”

Laura turned and looked at her astonished.

“After all of that, what makes you think I’m going to help you?”

Carmilla’s answering grin was almost predatory. “Because you can’t turn down the opportunity to prove me wrong.”

She watched Laura’s eyes widen as she warred with herself internally. Carmilla could see it in her eyes before she even began to speak.

Check and mate.

***

It was an old house. Carmilla had to give her client some credit; _if_ a house could be haunted (and they couldn’t) this would certainly be the kind of house that would attract a ghost. And Laura certainly seemed to think so as well. 

“Architecture seems to be reminiscent of 19th century. Note to self: ask owner of home--” 

“Can you please write it down instead of talking into your phone?” 

“I talk too fast sometimes for my hands to keep up!” Laura answered defensively, “and I need to make sure I’m documenting _everything._ And crap,” she fumbled with the keyboard, “I forgot to turn voice recognition off, now I have to backspace like a million times.” 

“Good. You should stop talking and do that.” 

They stopped at the front door. Carmilla raised her hand, knocking on it. Carmilla waited for a few seconds, then knocked twice more, harder this time. 

“Hey, I know you’re in there, come on!” 

There was a fluttering near one of the curtains; Laura squinted at it. 

“Okay, _that_ looked pretty ghost like.” 

“Naw, she just wanted to make sure people were at the door. I warned you, she’s kind of a weird client.” 

The door finally opened. 

“...Sorry. Sometimes I hear someone knock and then no one is there, so I just needed to make sure.” 

The woman at the door was one of the tallest redheads Laura had ever seen. She wore a serious expression and an even more serious work blouse. That was certainly promising. She looked like the kind of client who wouldn’t just be making stuff up.

“Draft from interior foyer flowing outwards. Suspicious, but not blowing hard enough to warrant true signs of activity. Perhaps a 2 or 3 on the scale.”

“I’m sorry,” the redhead interrupted. “Who is she?”

“This,” Carmilla drawled, “is the esteemed Professor Laura Hollis. She has a PhD in paranormal activity and has agreed to look at your case.”

“Oh!” The redhead looked visibly more at ease. “That’s fantastic. I’m Danny Lawrence.”

Laura smiled, putting her phone down for a moment and reaching out to shake her hand.

“It’s great to meet you. Could you tell me a little more about the nature of your supernatural encounters?”

“Right, right. Come in.”

Danny gestured inside and Carmilla and Laura stepped over the threshold together. Their hands brushed and Laura felt a jolt of--it wasn’t quite electricity, but something powerful. 

“Surge of some form of energy upon crossing the threshold. Unclear what it might be. Non-electrical. Perhaps some residual power of the supernatural creature finds its boundary at the door. Will have to investigate further.”

Carmilla gave her an odd look and then stared down at her hand. Laura turned at her and grinned.

“You felt it too, right?”

She raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure it wasn’t something _else?”_

“Like what?” 

Carmilla stared at her for a second longer trying to gauge if she was joking or not and then rolled her eyes. “Come on.” 

“Okay,” Danny said as she led them through the front hall of the house, “so when I moved in at first I didn’t think much of the various weird noises and drafts; you know, it’s a pretty old house. I figured, old houses creak, right? Not a big deal.” 

“Right,” Laura said, nodding. 

“But then stuff started happening that was just, like, _way_ too purposeful to be a coincidence. Like...sometimes my TV turns on. Just, turns on. No warning. I call my cable company and they have no idea why it’s happening. I even get someone to look at it. Nothing is wrong. So someone must be doing it themselves.” 

“And that totally means your house must be haunted by a dead spirit,” Carmilla finished. Danny was leading them into the dining room to sit down; Carmilla commandeered a chair and lifted her feet onto the table. “A perfectly _logical_ conclusion. What say you, Nutty Professor?” 

“Don’t listen to her,” Laura said, glaring at Carmilla and then patting Danny gently on the arm, “is there anything else?” 

“Lots of things. Books fall on my head.” 

Carmilla snorted. Danny side-eyed her hard.

Carmilla held up her hands in surrender. “I didn’t say anything. _Do_ go on.”

Danny huffed. “Anyway I hadn’t thought _that_ much about it until there was a night a few weeks ago.”

Laura leaned in, eyes large with suspense. “What happened a few weeks ago?” she whispered, careful not to break the ambience.

“I woke up in the middle of the night. No big deal. It happens sometimes, right? I’d been waking up like that sporadically for a few weeks by then. Except not at all. I felt this strange chill on the left side of my body. When I turned, there was this pale figure.”

“What did it look like?” Laura asked excitedly, thrusting her phone into Danny’s face.

“Um I’m not sure. The figure wasn’t super distinct. Mostly a blob, but the longer I stared the sharper the image became. I think it was a woman? She was mouthing something, but I’m not sure what because I didn’t hear anything. Anyway after a while, she just kind of faded away.”

Laura was already muttering rapidly into her phone. “Apparition. Class 1, maybe class 2. Corporeal form achieved though indistinct. Possibly female. No auditory abilities as of last known sighting. Probable formation over multiple weeks.”

Laura looked to Danny.

“Those past few weeks when you were waking up. Is it possible the ghost was trying to reach you then, but hadn’t yet been able to achieve a form you could see her in?”

Danny rubbed at her neck as she contemplated.

“Yeah I guess so. I hadn’t thought of that, but that makes sense.”

Laura nodded and went back to muttering into her phone.

“Has it occurred to you that maybe you were dreaming?” Carmilla asked, deciding to break up this whole venture before it got too out of control. 

“We’ve been over this,” Danny groaned, “I was _not_ dreaming, and I know what I saw! I am being haunted!” 

“I think she’s right,” Laura added. 

“You _do?”_ Danny and Carmilla said at the same time. 

“Of course I do. So far this is all consistent with all the research that’s out there so far--” 

“Consistent? _Consistent?_ How can you call this ‘consistent’ when you’re the only person seriously researching this?” 

“First of all, I am not; I have colleagues,” Laura answered flippantly, “second of all, Danny, can I see your room?” 

Danny nodded quickly, relief at being taken seriously spreading through her features. Carmilla let out a quiet groan, but followed dutifully.

“It’s just through here,” Danny said, pointing to an open doorway.

Laura hummed thoughtfully as she surveyed the room. The room was old and a little dark, but seemed otherwise in order.

After a moment, the lights flickered and both Danny and Laura jumped.

“Did you ju--”

Carmilla snickered behind them. They turned to find her leaning against the door jamb, finger on the light switch.

“Honestly you two.”

Laura glared.

“This is difficult enough without you _impeding_ the investigation. We are trying to gain proof like has never been found before--”

“Wait, I thought you had experience with this?” Danny interrupted.

“I do,” Laura soothed. “But this offers a unique chance to--”

Carmilla yawned loudly, moving to shuffle into the room.

“Alright Professor Creampuff. Can the flirting and just finish what you wanted to do so we can get out of here before dinner.”

Laura gave Danny an apologetic glance before turning back around, letting her eyes sweep the room.

The lights flickered again and Laura rolled her eyes turning back around.

“Carmilla honestly you can’t just…”

Her words died in her throat. Carmilla was standing right behind her with Danny to her right.

No one was standing by the light switch.

“That--that doesn’t _mean_ any--” 

“I told you!” Danny exclaimed, “I _told you!”_

“I had a good feeling about this place!” 

“It’s an old house,” Carmilla protested, “Danny, you admitted it’s an old house. Is it _possible_ that the lights just flickered because it is _an old fucking house with bad lighting.”_

“I fixed the electrical when I bought this place,” Danny answered. 

“That doesn’t mean there isn’t a perfectly normal explanation. Maybe my playing with the switch knocked something loose!” 

“See, this is what I hate,” Laura answered, “ghosts haunting Danny’s house _is_ a perfectly normal explanation that is worth considering! Now,” Laura pressed the microphone button on her phone again, “‘note: light switches flickering on and off. Apparition possibly in room with us. Attempting to siphon off electrical energy to manifest physical form? Consider as possibility.” 

Carmilla groaned at this. “Okay, but what’s more likely? That you observe and scientifically test a ghost for the first time _ever_ or that an old house has faulty wiring?”

“What’s more likely,” Laura shot back, “that millions of people over thousands of years who’ve never had any contact with one another all _collectively_ had the same delusion of seeing spirits that appeared in similar fashion with similar properties or that there is some credibility to the possibility of apparitions?”

“Look Professor, I get that you’ve spent one too many nights staying up and watching Harry Potter, but that does not mean that just because you wish _hard enough_ , your letter to Hogwarts is going to come.”

“My affinity for Harry Potter doesn’t have _any_ bearing on this discussion--”

“Guys,” Danny interrupted, “can we just focus?”

Carmilla huffed, but stayed silent.

Laura hummed thoughtfully.

“I’m going to see if I can draw the spirit out.”

“Wait, what?” asked Danny, “what if it’s not friendly?”

“Well it’s obviously not powerful enough yet to do any harm,” Laura pointed out reasonably, “better find out what it wants now than later when it might be able to.”

Danny nodded uneasily while Carmilla merely rolled her eyes.

Laura flicked through some apps on her phone.

“I’m not sure if this is going to work through my phone’s speakers… it might require us to come back with more specialized equipment…”

Laura flicked an app on and an eerie humming filled the room. After a few moments, she flicked it off.

The three of them stood there for a moment.

Nothing.

Laura sagged a touch, “yes as I suspected, the phone’s speakers are distorting the sound too much.”

“Or,” Carmilla rebutted, “the more obvious alternative that there are _no such thing as ghosts_.”

Laura was completely ignoring Carmilla by this point. “It's just as well,” she said, “I'm familiar with how to communicate with spectral apparitions, but field work isn’t really my specialty. I haven’t done it since I started working at the school.”

Carmilla breathed a sigh of relief. “Good, then we can go--”

“I have to call one of my colleagues for that. Can you give me a moment?” 

Laura walked into the hallway and Carmilla followed. 

“Wait, wait, you’re bringing in _someone else?”_

“Just so they can help me get some proper equipment.” 

“ _They?_ So multiple people now?” 

“No, my friend is nonbinary.” Laura held the phone to her ear. “Laf? Hey! Are you busy? Well okay so you know how during our doctoral programs we had postulated the effect of using sound waves to communicate with apparitions? What? No that’s not…”

Laura made a sort of frustrated motion with her hand, “no I know. That’s it exactly! And I’d love to...you can? No I adjusted for frequency, but not amplitude. No, I’m having trouble with...okay perfect!”

Carmilla looked on exasperatedly as Laura rattled off the address and snapped her phone shut, beaming.

“They’ll be here shortly.”

Danny smiled and said, “okay I’m just gonna get some work done until then.”

Laura waved her off. “Sure. I’ll come get you when they’re here!”

As Danny disappeared, Carmilla sauntered forward.

“When are you going to give up the ghost Scrappy Doo? There’s nothing supernatural about faulty lighting and your little app couldn’t find anything.”

Laura huffed. “Why are you so adamant that nothing supernatural is going on?”

“Why are you so adamant that something is?” Carmilla countered.

“Because I have seen and heard too much for it to be a coincidence.”

“That’s just blind faith,” Carmilla scoffed, “because you want to believe in higher powers to dull the tragedy that is the mundanity of human existence.”

Laura crossed her arms. “Wow, that went from teasing to absolutely depressing pretty fast.” 

“Well, sorry if reality is a little less enjoyable than your fantasy world.” 

“So what if I have a little faith? What’s so wrong with faith? What happened to you that you’re against it? “ 

“I’m _against it_ because the longer you keep feeding into Danny’s idiotic delusions, the longer I am stuck on a case that I have no hope of solving because there is nothing to solve!” 

“Or maybe you’re just so damaged that you can’t possibly believe that anything exists outside of your _myopic_ existence.” 

 

Carmilla’s mouth twisted. “You don’t know anything about me. Sometimes things just are what they are. And the sooner you accept that the world isn’t secretly some magical wonderland, the better off Danny is going to be. And maybe you can go into a _real_ field of science.” 

Laura pursed her lips. “No. I don’t believe that.” 

Carmilla rolled her eyes.

“I mean it,” Laura continued, “why shouldn’t I want to have a little faith in magic? What’s wrong with looking to something bigger than ourselves? I’m sorry you didn’t get what you needed when you needed it. But everyone _deserves_ it. Even you.”

Carmilla paused for a moment, seemingly considering, and then huffed. “That’s the same religious demagoguery my parents tried to shove down my throat in Sunday school. You can’t prove any of that exists.”

“You can’t prove it doesn’t!”

“The default state of the universe should be to assume something doesn’t exist rather than make up things and pretend they do cutie.”

“I’m going to _prove_ to you that you’re wrong and my faith isn’t misplaced.”

There was a strange gleam in Carmilla’s eye. “Oh yeah? Care to make a wager on that?”

Laura regarded her suspiciously. “What kind of wager?”

“If _I’m_ right, you’re taking me out on a date. I want to be wined and dined beautiful.”

“Okay but _when_ I’m right, what do I get?”

Carmilla’s grin grew predatory. “Then I’ll take _you_ out on one.”

Laura spluttered at Carmilla’s arrogance, but was saved from having to respond by a buzz from her phone. 

“...Laf’s here.”

“That was fast.” 

“Laf doesn’t live that far from here,” Laura answered. “Come on, I’ll introduce you. Danny, you’re free to come, obviously!” 

Danny poked her head out of the bedroom again. “Coming!” 

They walked down the stairs, and Laura opened the door, beaming. “Lafontaine, it is so great to see you!” 

The person standing in the doorway grinned back, slouching a little from the weight of all the gear strapped to them. “Hey, Laura. Wasn’t sure if you’d want me to try anything else once I got here, so I brought some extra stuff.” 

“I don’t think we have enough time--” 

“That is great!” Laura interrupted, “couldn’t have called on a better person. Is Perry with you?” 

“Uh,” their smile faltered a little, “she’s still in semi-retirement.” 

“Oh,” Laura said, stepping aside to let Lafontaine in, “still, huh?” 

Lafontaine gave her a weak grin. “Well maybe this will be the thing to pull her out of it, yeah?”

Laura introduced them quickly and then began babbling with so many strange words that Carmilla wasn’t even sure half of them were real.

“...and I’m not sure the ectoplasm containment is really _equivalent_ but if we graft Holtzmann’s theory of the transdimensional onto our previous understanding of apparitions as being unable to stabilize in the correct frequencies here then we _should_ be able to…”

Laf nodded along enthusiastically.

“Okay but have you considered the possibility of helping the apparition adjust frequencies? Our predecessors had only really considered containment possibilities, but if we could _dictate_ the frequencies they stabilized in, then we could have complete control over the…”

Carmilla tuned out again. More scientist nonsense babble.

She sighed as they all trooped back upstairs to Danny’s room. 

Maybe if the redheaded scientist’s findings were inconclusive they could finally put this case to rest. But given the enthusiasm of the two, it seemed unlikely that they would find anything other than an affirmative answer satisfying.

It was almost enough for her to regret having contacted Laura in the first place. Almost. No amount of craziness changed the fact that Laura really pulled off the hot professor look. At least if she was stuck here, she was stuck here with some very nice eye candy.

“So this is where the ghost has come closest to fully manifesting?” Lafontaine asked, stepping into Danny’s room. 

“Yes, this is it,” Laura answered, “you want to set up your equipment?” 

“Alright. Here, plug this into an outlet for me, huh?” 

Carmilla gave a slight _oomph_ as Lafontaine thrust into her arms what looked like a small amplifier. 

“What are you doing?” 

“Haven’t you been listening?” 

“Yes. I still have no idea what you’re doing.” 

Lafontaine gave Carmilla an exasperated look.

“Plug in the thing I just gave you. You can handle that much, can’t you?”

“Not until I know what it’s for,” growled Camilla.

“It senses ghosts!” said Laf, throwing their hands up in the air, “is that easy enough for you?”

Carmilla narrowed her eyes. “Watch it Professor X or I might just have to--”

“Okayyy,” Laura cut in, “Laf you’ve got other stuff to set up right? I’ll help Carm with this.”

Laf raised an eyebrow and mouthed ‘Carm?’ at her and Laura blushed a little and turned away.

“You know I don’t really need help plugging this in sweetheart,” Carmilla said dryly.

“Ah I know. Just...ah...making sure the settings are right!” 

By the way Carmilla gave her a disbelieving look after her voice had slowly started to escalate in pitch, Laura got the feeling that Carmilla didn’t totally believe her.

“Look,” she said lowering her voice, “I know Laf and I have the tendency to assume that everyone has our background in the paranormal and on top of that, half our equipment is stuff that they invented so don’t let them make you feel bad for not knowing.”

Carmilla’s eyebrows shot up.

“I wasn’t actually offended.” After a beat, the shadow of a smirk crossed her face and her voice lowered a few steps. “But if you want to roleplay as teacher for me later I’d be happy to be very _very_ bad at learning.” She stepped forward into Laura’s space as her voice turned sultrier, “Mmm Professor Hollis I think I need _private lessons_.”

Laura could feel her whole face heating up. “That’s not--I--what--I was trying to be nice you raging bad person!”

Carmilla gave her a casual shrug and a grin. “Can’t blame a gal for trying, can you cutie?”

Laura frowned. “...Hey, did you feel that?” 

“What?” 

“That weird, like, tingling sensation down your back.” 

Carmilla’s grin spread even wider. “I think that’s called chem--” 

“Hey Laf!” Laura turned around, “I think the ghost is here with us, I can _feel_ it. Are you set up yet?” 

Carmilla’s nostrils flared, but deciding to cut her losses, she turned around and plugged the machine into the wall. It made a soft _whiiiiir_ as it hummed to life, and Carmilla backed away from it. 

“So now what? We just wait for the ghost to introduce itself? Somehow I have a feeling it’s a _little_ more complicated than that.” 

“‘Course it is,” Lafontaine answered, “I need to test different frequencies and besides, we need to ghost-proof the room.” 

“Wait,” Danny interrupted; she had been sitting at a desk near the corner on her laptop, then moved to watch them, and then finally was standing and walking toward them, “ _ghost-proof?”_

“Well, yeah. Sometimes ghosts don’t _want_ to be totally seen. Then you need to worry about poltergeist-type foul play. Not every ghost is going to be Casper, you know?” 

“Right,” Carmilla said dryly, “one cannot be naive when dealing with ghosts.” 

“Exactly,” Lafontaine answered, completely seriously, “so if we could remove any sharp objects or anything that would be heavy enough to cave in our skulls, that would probably be a good idea.” 

Laura was already moving things out of the way as Danny began trotting behind her, snagging things out of her reach.

Carmilla rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, refusing to help.

That done, Laf rubbed their hands together.

“Alright Laur. Let it rip!”

Laura shot them a thumbs up before hitting a couple of keys on the machine she and Carmilla had set up.

The machine’s whirring sped up and a soft indicator light blinked on.

Laura and Laf both looked around the room expectantly.

Nothing happened.

“That’s okay,” Laura said cheerily. “It just means we don’t have the right frequency.”

“...out of curiosity short stack, how many frequencies are there?”

It was Lafontaine who answered. “Well the standard range of audible frequencies runs from 20 to 20,000 Hz.”

“Twenty THOUS--”

“But,” Laf continued as if not interrupted, “we can’t assume ghosts use human frequencies.”

Carmilla looked vaguely faint at this. 

“So you mean there’s _more_ than that?”

“That’s right!” Laura exclaimed, looking positively giddy. Lafontaine was rubbing their hands together expectantly. 

“Okay, let’s fire this up again and try it at--” 

“Wait, guys, listen,” Danny said, “I really appreciate the help, but I kind of _sleep_ in this room, you know, _live_ in this house, so I would really appreciate if you guys didn’t spend the rest of the night in here...please?” 

At least Danny was slightly more sane than the rest of them, Carmilla supposed. 

“...Danny, how much would you mind if we _did_ spend the rest of the night in here?” Laura asked.

At Danny’s look Laura added, “the ghost seems to be trying to contact you when you’re sleeping. Maybe we would have more luck then. Catch it when it’s actually trying to manifest.” 

Danny didn’t look convinced, so Laura added, “ _please?_ We won’t wake you up unless something happens. I promise. And Laf and I don’t snore or anything.” 

She still didn’t say anything, but finally ended up sighing. “...Blankets are in the hallway closet. You’re sleeping on the floor. Thanks guys.” 

“ _Okay,_ if you don’t mind,” Carmilla said, “I am going home. I will see you all in the morning.” 

“You’re not staying?” Lafontaine asked. 

“Why should I?” 

“Because we’re at the threshold of a possible scientific breakthrough that not only revolutionizes science but also the way we view our entire way of life and society!” 

“Or, more likely, I’m going to spend all night in this house watching you two geek out about a draft making the curtains move a little. No thanks. Call me if you find any ‘evidence.’” 

Carmilla turned to go, but was stopped by a hand grabbing her wrist and pulling her back. 

“But Carmilla, you have to stay!” 

“Why exactly? I’m a detective. I solve cases that deal pretty strictly in the realm of the living. I only took this because I figured for an hourly rate I could drag it out for a decent chunk of cash before I convinced her nothing is wrong.” 

“Hey!” Danny huffed. 

“No, we really do need you,” Laura answered, “because once we _do_ find something, the more people that can corroborate what we see, the more likely we are to be believed.” 

“But I thought you were going to get _hard evidence,_ what with your friend’s complicated science that I can’t understand.” 

“Carm please?”

Carmilla twitched, eyes falling to where Laura’s hand was resting lightly on her arm. She dragged her eyes back to Laura’s where they held for a long moment.

“...fine. But only because I think it’ll be hilarious to watch you all realize there’s no such thing as ghosts.”

Laura was completed unfazed by Carmilla’s attempt at nonchalance, throwing her arms around the other girl gleefully.

“Thanks Carm!”

Just as soon as she was hugging her, Laura was just as quickly gone, hyped up and gesticulating wildly to Lafontaine.

“Can you feel it? I’m _totally_ feeling vibes from this room!”

“Clearly you're not feeling the same vibes as I am,” Carmilla grumbled. She went to the closet. 

“Oooh, yellow is my favorite color!” Laura grabbed the pillow. Carmilla reached a hand in.

“...shit, was that the last one?” 

“You snooze you lose,” Lafontaine answered, looking over their shoulder at Carmilla with their arms full of blankets. 

Carmilla stared incredulously at them and then sent her eyes up towards the ceiling. 

“I cannot believe I agreed to this.”

She ran a hand down her face slowly before surveying the room.

Lafontaine had already started piling up blankets, trying to build up a layer of cushioning between them and the cold wood floor.

Meanwhile Laura seemed to be happily building a little nest of some sort, cocooning herself tightly in a blanket while cuddling her prized pillow.

Carmilla huffed before slumping down against the nearest wall and arranging her leather jacket so it draped over as much of her body as she could cover.

Well. She supposed she’d had worse nights.

***

This was the absolute worst. If she’d had worse nights, they all faded into the background with the misery of right now.

She’d managed to drift into an uneasy sleep, but she kept waking intermittently. The room had gotten noticeably cooler since sundown and her jacket was meant more for looks than true warmth.

Carmilla fought the chill, shivering a little and trying not to let her teeth rattle.

She stubbornly closed her eyes, trying to will sleep to come.

There was a soft shuffling and then a hand lightly shaking her shoulder.

“Carm?”

She opened her eyes wearily.

“What now?”

Laura was standing before her, still wrapped up in the blanket that she’d dragged across the floor with her.

“Do you want to share? I can hear your teeth rattling from over there.”

Laura opened the blanket slightly, a clear invitation.

Carmilla gave a half a thought towards making an innuendo and then decided it wasn’t worth the risk that Laura would revoke the offer. 

She nodded jerkily and Laura settled beside her, arms slightly open so Carmilla could burrow inside. She sighed blissfully. The little cocoon was so warm. Logically she knew she had been warmer before, but right at this instant, she had never felt warmer.

Laura smiled before putting the yellow pillow on the ground and guiding Carmilla to lay down.

It took some rearranging of limbs until they’d properly tucked the blanket around them so they weren’t letting in any cold air, and they were pressed pretty close for people who’d only known each other for a day, but Laura was warm and smelled _so_ good.

Carmilla sighed happily, murmuring a quiet, “thanks cupcake.”

She thought she might have heard Laura respond, but she was too out of it, already drifting off into a peaceful slumber.

***

She was awoken a short while later by a rustling next to her. Groaning tiredly, she cracked open an eye to see a guilty-looking Laura.

“Sorry,” Laura whispered. “Did I wake you?”

Carmilla rolled her eyes. “What do you think sweetheart?”

“Sorry!”

“Can’t sleep?”

Laura chewed slightly on her bottom lip. “Yeah I just...my mind is going ten thousand miles a minute.”

Carmilla sighed, resigning herself to the fact that she probably wouldn’t get much sleep with Laura shifting around.

“What’s on your mind poptart?”

“What...what if this is it?”

“What’s it?”

“What if we actually find a ghost here? Everything I ever dreamed about finally coming true...I’m not even quite sure how to deal with it.”

Laura shrugged as best as she could while shrouded in blankets, eyes darting away as her expression grew bashful.

Carmilla observed her quietly. 

There was something about the midnight hour that made them honest. Raw. Jealously-regarded secrets by day unfurled for inspection at night.

Carmilla realized that Laura was handing her something here. Something important.

“Why...why is it so important to you that ghosts are real?”

Laura sighed, a small, wispy thing that hovered in the air between them.

“How can you not want them to be real? The fact that there’s more out there...that this is not the end. That even if something terrible happens in this life there’s a chance in the next. The supernatural expands our boundaries and binds us together. Our possibilities are infinite.”

“See this is where we differ.”

Laura’s brow furrowed cutely. “What do you mean?”

“I think it’s infinitely more powerful that there isn’t anything else out there. That this is the only thing we have and the only thing we’re relying on is ourselves. We’re not hoping for some higher power to come rescue us. If you want something, you have to go for it.”

Laura bit her lip, wrestling with some thought. “I’m not trying to offend you.”

Carmilla huffed a little laugh. “Typically people only say that right before they say something offensive. But go for it. It’s honesty hour anyway.”

Laura stared at her for a beat, before slowly nodding. 

“It’s just… don’t you think you’re coming from a place of privilege?”

Carmilla instinctively bristled at the term. Laura saw and reached out her hand to soothe Carmilla’s arm.

“I don’t mean that in a bad way. It’s just… some people aren’t in the position to think that way. If they’re in a place where there’s nothing to look forward to; if the person you care about is already gone…” she trailed off.

Carmilla’s throat closed up, questions about who Laura had lost swirling to the forefront of her mind. She thought of her own losses, breathing deep. 

“Do you think it’s kinder to let them believe a lie?”

Carmilla didn’t even realize she’d voiced the question until Laura’s face twisted. It smoothed out after a moment.

“Have you heard of Schrodinger’s cat?”

“Sure. Until you open the box, the cat is both dead and alive.”

“As long as we don’t know it’s a lie, why can’t it be true?”

The thought sat, hovering between them. They lay there, quietly considering the possibility of everything they’d ever known being overthrown until they drifted back off into an uneasy sleep. The last thing Carmilla remembered seeing was the absentminded thoughtfulness of Laura’s eyes before she let sleep overtake her.

***

Carmilla was a night owl by nature; sleeping was never something she did particularly well, at least not in long stretches. Even when she hadn’t slept much, she slept lightly.

So of _course_ despite how little sleep she’d gotten, she had to be the one that heard something first. 

“Wha…?” Carmilla blinked sleepily, looking up. 

There was a figure near Danny’s bed. Her form blinked in and out of existence like a skipping CD, and Carmilla rubbed her eyes. Nope. Still there. 

She hovered by the bed near Danny, not moving. Was...whatever it was watching her sleep? What kind of Twilight shit was that? 

She shook her head trying to clear it. Surely this was some trick of the light. 

Her eyes darted to the window, but there wasn’t much in the way of light.

But there couldn’t be...there had to be some other logical explanation.

“What the frilly _Hell_ is that?” Carmilla muttered to herself. 

Laura woke with a start. “What--” Laura stared for a moment. “Lafontaine! Lafontaine, the frequency amplifier!” 

Lafontaine rolled over in their sleep, mumbling something about protons. 

“ _Ugh,_ alright, I will!” 

Laura scrambled to her feet, which didn’t bode well for Carmilla, considering that they were wrapped up together. When she stood, the blanket got tangled, trapping them both, and Laura’s feet slid on the hardwood floor. They landed back on the ground in a heap. 

“ _Oof!_ Watch it cupcake!” 

“I’m _trying_ to make a scientific breakthrough here--” 

But it was too late. Whatever was near Danny’s bedside was gone. 

“Noooo,” groaned Laura. “How can it be gone already? It just got here!”

Lafontaine was rapidly rubbing their eyes, and trudged over to the small machine.

“Woah,” they breathed.

“What? What is it?” Laura demanded.

“Oh man L, you gotta take a look at these readings.”

Laura freed one arm, felt the cold air for a moment and immediately retreated.

“Carm?”

Carmilla grunted, having clearly decided more sleep was warranted, her eyes were already at half-mast. “What?”

“Do you mind if we…” Laura used her head to gesture towards where Laf was already sitting, scanning the printout.

“I do mind actually,” Carmilla grumbled. Nevertheless, at Laura’s prodding, she helped shuffle along their little blanket cocoon until Laura was next to Laf and could read the printout side by their side.

“Great now that that’s settled,” Carmilla muttered, “I’d like my pillow back.”

“Oh,” Laura startled, “um we can go get it…”

“Not what I meant creampuff,” Carmilla said, yawning widely. “Be a doll and don’t move too much mmkay?”

Carmilla burrowed her face into Laura’s warm back, easily getting comfortable and quickly nodding off.

“Wha--”

Laura contorted a little to look at her.

Without all the grump and sarcasm Carmilla was...kind of cute like this.

Well.

She supposed it couldn’t hurt to let her stay there for just a little bit.

Laf looked over for a moment and raised an eyebrow.

Laura blushed, but ignored the silent question in favor of scanning the readings.

“Okay...well let’s see... _wow,_ the ectoplasmic residue is pretty high. She came pretty close to manifesting entirely that time, from the looks of it.” 

“Do you think it had something to do with us being here?” 

“Probably,” Laura answered, “the amplifier did its job, maybe? If we try again tomorrow night at a higher frequency--” 

“ _Ugh,_ guys, I thought you said you weren’t going to wake me up,” Danny rubbed her head, “what’s happening?” 

“Oh, Carmilla saw the ghost.” 

“YOU SAW THE GHOST AND YOU LET ME SLEEP THROUGH IT?” 

Carmilla’s eyes snapped open again, lifting her head slightly in annoyance. “First of all, I never said I saw a ghost--” 

“Then what was with your stunned reaction?” Laura answered. 

“I was half asleep. There was some weird lighting; maybe the window was letting in something.”

“Okay you know just as well as I do that that wasn’t any trick of light--”

“For all I know it could have been me dreaming. I could _still_ be dreaming. In fact that would be fantastic.” 

“ _Or,_ YOU SAW A GHOST! Denial is not just a river in Egypt, you know!” 

“Or it was just a tired delusion sweetheart. I saw _something_ , but why on earth does that something have to be a ghost? You’ve been talking so much about them that my mind probably mistook something perfectly logical for something with a more human form. Power of suggestion and all that. Perfectly normal.”

“So is that a yay or nay on trying again?” Lafontaine asked. 

“Oh _no,”_ Carmilla interrupted, “I am not going through this circus show again. Either figure something else out or I am out of here.” 

“What else? This is the closest we’ve ever gotten! We can’t just switch to something new when it looks like this might work!” 

“According to your friend there are 19,999 more frequencies to try! You want to roll the dice that number two is going to be the right one?” 

“Actually, the machine has been running through the frequencies so we have a ballpark estimate of what frequencies she manifested at…”

“Oh ballpark,” Carmilla rolled her eyes, “great. So did you narrow it down to like 5,000 or so?”

“Science is not...an exact science…” Lafontaine frowned, “okay Laura it wasn’t a _complete_ waste anyway if we try something else. At least we know for a fact there is a ghost here.” 

“No we do not--” 

“Okay, will you _shut up?”_ Lafontaine snapped. 

Carmilla was so shocked at the outburst that she actually did for a moment. 

“Oh my God, I’m going to need to call a priest and have my house hosed down with holy water won’t I,” Danny said. 

“No, you won’t,” Laura said gently, “I promise.”

Danny did not look convinced and Laura moved to reassure her.

“We have a much narrower band now. If we set the machine to just run through that band, I’m sure we can get the ghost to appear. Right Laf?”

Laf nodded. “Yeah. If we just fiddle with the output mechanism, we should be able to induce appearance. Hopefully in the next few hours.”

Danny looked doubtful, but nodded anyway. Carmilla snorted. This ought to be good.

Laura and Laf set about resetting the machine as Carmilla crossed her arms. Well. They’d know one way or another in the next few hours.

***

For the first hour, Laura stood vigilantly over the machine, pen poised over paper, ready to take down any abnormal markings. She shushed Carmilla whenever she tried to speak so Carmilla decided to let her be.

By hour three, Laura was slumped to the side a little bit. She nibbled on some cookies that Danny had brought though her expression was hopeful. Carmilla huffed and settled next to her. Laura shot her a grateful smile, bumping shoulders with her lightly. Carmilla pretended not to be affected as she dozed lightly, letting her head slump towards Laura’s shoulder.

By hour five, even Laura’s enthusiasm was drooping. The pen and paper were long since abandoned. The cookies had been demolished. And the excited light from her eyes had faded. Carmilla almost thought she had fallen asleep when Laura spoke.

“I...I really thought this would work.” 

Carmilla scoffed. “What made you think this would work?”

Laura let out a little shuddery sigh and continued as if she hadn’t heard Carmilla.

Carmilla didn’t have to turn to look at her to feel the despondence that painted her features.

“We did everything right. All the science is sound. But no matter what we do, she just won’t show!” 

Carmilla felt herself pause. Something felt… out of balance with the world. To have the normally upbeat cupcake so upset.

“I...um...the machine is still going?”

“If she was here, she should’ve showed up hours ago!” Agitation crept into Laura’s every word and Carmilla bit her lip. She couldn’t help herself. She felt the words bubble up before she could stop them.

“...Maybe we’re thinking about this the wrong way.” 

“What do you mean?” Laura asked. 

“Look, you keep trying to science your way out of this,” Carmilla said, “but this is all supernatural paranormal shit, right? When in Rome, you do as the Romans do.” 

“What, are you suggesting we become ghosts ourselves?” Lafontaine asked. Carmilla shook her head. 

“No, but if this stuff is supernatural, maybe we use supernatural stuff to figure it out-- _not_ that I think it is, but if we’re going to be delusional, we might as well try--one of those--those psychics,” Carmilla snapped her fingers, “a ouija board, or a seance or something? As long as we’ve decided we’re crazy, might as well go all in.” 

Carmilla looked over and noted that both of the scientists looked a little uncomfortable. 

“What? What did I say?”

“No, no,” Laura soothed, “that’s actually a good idea.”

Lafontaine’s jaw flexed once, then twice. Finally, they let out a long breath.

“I’ll try and reason with Perry.”

Carmilla shot them an incredulous look.

“You know someone for this?” She rolled her eyes at herself. “Who am I kidding. Of course you do. Bring on the circus. What’s one more?”

Lafontaine nodded mostly to themselves and got up to take the call.

Carmilla nodded satisfied with her results.

Laura gave her an appreciative smile. “Thanks Carmilla.”

“For what?” she said suspiciously. “I didn’t do anything.”

Laura’s smile grew a little wider. “Pretend all you want. Your broody, disaffected attitude is not fooling me.”

Carmilla rolled her eyes. “Whatever.”

She yawned and settled back against Laura for a quick catnap.

“Wake me if anything interesting happens,” she muttered. 

As she drifted off, she felt cautious fingers combing through her hair, creating a soothing feeling. She let herself luxuriate in the comforting touch, before fading back off to sleep.

***

By the time Carmilla woke up, she noticed two things: 

Lafontaine was still talking on the phone

She was no longer asleep on Laura’s back. 

And, after a moment, she noticed: 

3) She had her head in Laura’s _lap_ instead. 

“Cupcake…?” 

She felt Laura’s fingers massaging her scalp, while she looked at Lafontaine with a small frown. 

“Hey, Carm--oh,” Laura blushed and removed her hand. “Sorry, it was getting uncomfortable with you on my back after awhile so I sort of...maneuvered you. We had to wait until morning to call ‘cause Perry was asleep but Laf is...well, they’re trying to talk to Perry.” 

“Perry, Perry, come _on,_ you know you’re the best person for this--because I don’t know anyone else that will help! Yes, I know, I know, normal is great, but you can’t give up _forever_ because of one bad--” 

They were pacing the room, shaking their head. “She hung up on me,” Lafontaine said after a moment. “Sorry guys.” 

“Can’t we get another one?” Carmilla asked. 

“I mean, sure, but we don’t know how reliable they are,” Laura said, “Perry is the real deal.” 

“The ‘real deal.’” 

Danny walked back into the room with a toothbrush in her mouth. “Did you guys get your friend to come yet?” 

“No,” Laura answered, “Perry is kind of...not onboard yet.” 

“But what do you mean ‘real deal?’” Carmilla asked, “seriously, you both know a psychic?” 

“Not a psychic, a _medium,”_ Lafontaine answered, “she can’t read minds, she can just communicate with--what did she call it?--the ‘other world.’ She’s a certified Wiccan priestess--well--former priestess. She kind of retired.” 

Carmilla raised an eyebrow. “And why exactly did she…’retire?’” 

“Because she was possessed by the spirit of a ghost that tried to throw a butcher knife at me and then carved Latin words into her stomach.” 

“That’s what I thought you wanted to talk to me about yesterday,” Laura added, “it was...kind of hard for them to explain. We know that ‘a ghost did it’ unfortunately doesn’t really work as an explanation yet…” 

“SHE CARVED LATIN INTO HER STOMACH?”

“I think we looked it up and it meant ‘woe to all who enter here for their doom is at hand--’” 

“THAT ISN’T WHAT I WANTED TO KNOW MORE ABOUT,” Carmilla exclaimed, “so you want to bring in your crazy friend who is prone to throwing _knives_ at people?” 

“That was the only time it happened in years!” Lafontaine answered, “Perry could normally stop herself from doing anything dangerous, but this ghost was, uh...particularly nasty. She was accused in the early 1900s of killing like, five of her ex husbands and Perry was supposed to see if she could bring her spirit back and get her to admit it. Was a whole battle of wills and everything and I mean, if you’re willing to straight up murder people--” 

“Uh...I don’t know if I’m comfortable with this either,” Danny offered, raising her hand a little from her spot at the foot of her bed. 

“Danny, that isn’t going to happen,” Laura answered, “the worst this ghost has done is make a book fall on your head. She seems like a low level to lower mid level apparition at best--” 

“First of all, this wasn’t just any books,” Danny interrupted, “I had to take my illustrated hardcover copy of Pride and Prejudice and put it on the bottom shelf. That thing is seriously heavy. The ghost was trying to give me a concussion!” 

“Look, can we just forget it?” Lafontaine said, crossing their arms uncomfortably, “Perry said no. She was so shaken up from what happened that she hasn’t even been able to see a spirit for months. Apparently her mind isn’t,” they used air quotes, “‘open to receiving visions from the other realm.’” 

Carmilla sighed. “Give me your phone.” 

“Why--” 

“Your phone. Now.” 

Lafontaine handed it over. Carmilla put it on speaker. “Hello, is this Perry?” 

_“...yes, this is she. Who is this?”_

“Carmilla Karnstein, private investigator. You need to come here right now.” 

_“I already told Lafontaine I am not going to--”_

“In that case, I am going to place you under arrest.” 

Laura had to grab Lafontaine and hold them back. “Laf, wait, I’m sure she doesn’t mean it!” 

_“_ Under arrest? _Why?”_

“Because your friend literally just admitted to me that you ran at them with a butcher knife.” 

“I told her the ghost made you do it Perr!” 

“The _point,”_ Carmilla continued, “is that you are going to get your ass in gear and be on board with this or I _will_ find some way to make your lives difficult.” 

There was a long pause on the other end of the phone. _“.....What is the address of the house?”_

Carmilla smirked, gave the address, and hung up. 

“Did you just _blackmail_ my best friend?!” 

“I think the word you’re looking for is ‘used advanced persuasive methods.’” 

Danny looked faintly green. “I’m going to pretend I never heard any of that.”

Laura just stared curiously at her. 

“...do you even have the power to arrest someone?”

Carmilla shrugged, unruffled. “No. But she doesn’t know that.”

Laf gaped at her.

“What? We got what we wanted. She’s not gonna get arrested. Everything is hunky dory Dr. Frankenstein.”

Laf’s mouth flapped uselessly once or twice. When they finally found their voice again, they said, “I’m not sure if I’m still pissed at you for threatening Perry, relieved that you don’t actually have the power to do anything to her, or kind of impressed that you knew that Frankenstein was the scientist and not the monster.”

“You think just because I’m not a PhD I don’t read?”

Laura stepped between them.

“Oh-kay you two. Carm, Laf didn’t mean it like that. And Laf, why don’t you get ready for Perry’s arrival?”

The two of them backed off, grumbling.

Laura breathed a sigh of relief.

“Good.” 

Lafontaine trudged off to wait for Perry downstairs. Carmilla smiled at Laura. 

“Thanks.” 

“No problem. If you guys kill each other that would mean more work for me,” Laura looked away from Carmilla. “Wow, my face is heating up.” 

Carmilla grinned and was about to pounce on the opportunity before Laura turned to check the amplifier. 

“It starts to heat up when it’s plugged in for awhile,” Laura mumbled, “that’s probably it…” 

“Right,” Carmilla said, frowning. “Of course that’s it.” 

“...don’t think I didn’t notice what you did, by the way,” Laura added. 

“Did what exactly…?” 

“ _You_ suggested we use a medium. And then when we couldn’t get her, you made it happen anyway,” Laura turned back to her and smiled, “starting to rethink?” 

“Hey, I only did it because I know you were going to suggest it anyway,” Carmilla answered. 

“Or maybe, deep down, you know what you saw?” 

“I am not saying I _saw_ anything. But none of you are going to shut up about this unless we try every stupid plan I can think of. The faster she comes over and isn’t able to prove jack _shit_ , the faster I can go home.” 

Laura kept smiling. “Alright, Carmilla. If you say so.” 

Carmilla frowned and went downstairs to wait for Perry to show up. 

The sound of the doorbell had Lafontaine sprinting past her and jostling her in an effort to get to the door first shouting, “I’ll get it!”

Carmilla scowled, trying to figure out if it was worth the effort to beat the scientist to a bloody pulp.

A glance at Laura said otherwise and Carmilla huffed.

Carmilla wasn’t sure what she was expecting when Perry answered the door, but it wasn’t the woman who showed up.

The redhead was carefully manicured, all pastel colors and cardigans. She was done up in a pretty Stepford Wives-y way that had Carmilla frowning. She certainly didn’t _look_ like a psychic.

At any rate, it was showtime.

“Alright Theresa Caputo,” Carmilla said, cracking her knuckles one at a time for effect, “hurry up and get cracking.”

Perry turned slightly white. “Well--that is--you see--”

“Don’t have all day,” Carmilla said.

“I haven’t done this in years. And I’m not certain what the law wants with a retired medium at any rate.”

“Perry,” Lafontaine said, “this is the breakthrough we were waiting for, we _saw_ something, and we just need--” 

“Not this again,” Perry groaned, “Lafontaine, I understand you miss working together--I do too--but I have put that behind me. I have a normal job now. And I told you I don’t even see the ghosts anymore. My--” 

“You’ve got psychic medium block, I know,” Carmilla said, “but you are going to give it a shot, because I am not going to let this last any longer than it has. Because you know what? I may not be the plucky optimist like Laura, I may not be the nerd like Holtzmann over here, I may not be a psychic like you--but if there’s one thing I contribute to this shitty gang of ghost hunting misfits, it’s that I know how to intimidate the _shit_ out of people until they give me what I want.” 

Perry, if possible, turned whiter.

“I--”

Carmilla stepped in closer, staring her down.

“Listen Red, I don’t care what you think you can and can’t do, but you’re damn well going to go in there and try. Am I _making myself clear_?”

“Um yes?”

“Yes what?” Carmilla snarled.

“Yes ma’am!” Perry squeaked and bounded up the stairs.

Carmilla snickered to herself.

Laf gave her a strange look.

“What?”

“I didn’t realize you actually considered us a team.”

Carmilla scowled. “Go follow your friend Ginger 2.”

“Wait why am _I_ Ginger 2? I was here first!”

Carmilla gave her an unimpressed look and made a shooing motion with her hands. Still grumbling, they trotted upstairs after Perry.

Carmilla heard Laura squeak ‘Perry!’ from upstairs. Carmilla went back into the bedroom, and she had jumped on Perry and clung to her like a koala. Perry looked pleasantly confused. 

“Laura, dear, hi.” 

“It is so awesome that you came! Sorry Carmilla threatened to arrest you. This is Danny,” Laura let go and gestured to Danny, who waved, “and she says there’s a ghost in this house that keeps throwing books at her.” 

“Well, that and just generally messing with my stuff,” Danny amended. Perry bit her lip. 

“Is the ghost dangerous? I don’t know if I want to do this if the ghost is dangerous…” 

Carmilla cracked her knuckles again from behind Perry, who paused. 

“Okay. Okay, _fine,_ but if this does not work I reserve the right to say ‘I told you so.’ Okay.” Perry paced back and forth. “For this to work I will need some things.” 

“Sure,” Laura answered, “whatever you need.” 

“I need candles. One for each of us and one for the ghost.” 

“I’ll go get them!” Danny said, running out of the room. 

“I will need it to be as dark as possible.” 

“On it,” Lafontaine answered, beginning to shut the curtains. 

“And then I will need total, absolute silence while I try and do this. Do we know the name of the ghost?” 

“No,” Laura answered, “just that it’s probably a woman?” 

“Okay.” 

Perry looked nervous, wringing her hands, and Carmilla almost felt bad. At least they already removed all of the pointy objects from the room. 

“Got them!” Danny ran back in. Carmilla stared at her. 

“Are those... _birthday candles…?”_

“Well I’m sorry, I forgot to buy more candles for my ‘emergency seance’ drawer.” 

“They’ll work,” Perry answered, “everyone take one.” 

Carmilla grabbed a thin, blue and white striped birthday candle, looking at it with distaste. 

“Who’s holding the one for the ghost…?” Laura asked. 

“Thought of that already,” Danny answered, “I had an extra I was saving for later, but whatever…” 

Danny placed a cupcake in the middle of the room and stuck a candle inside. “There you go.” 

Carmilla had seen a lot of weird things as a private investigator, but using a cupcake to house a candle so that they could communicate with the dead had to be the weirdest thing Carmilla had or would _ever_ experience. 

“Danny, please light our candles. Everyone sit in a circle.” 

Danny did as Perry asked. Carmilla sat next to Laura. Lafontaine took a seat next to her. Danny sat on the other side of Laura, and Carmilla scooted a little closer. 

Perry took a deep breath and closed her eyes. “I’d like to start with a prayer of protection, if you all don’t mind.” 

“I’ll do it,” Carmilla offered, not wanting to give her the opportunity to stall, “oh spirits or whatever, please don’t murder us painfully. The end. Amen. Let’s do this.” 

Perry blinked, shook her head, and closed her eyes again. 

“Oh spirit which haunts this residence, reveal yourself to us!” 

“‘Reveal yourself,’” Laura and Lafontaine intoned. It occurred to Carmilla that hey, they had done this with Perry before. They neglected to inform her of the rituals. 

“Uh, yeah, just--I mean, reveal yourself.” 

Nothing. 

“Oh spirit,” Perry repeated, “we wish to speak to you. Please, honor us with your presence!” 

Carmilla was able to repeat it with Laura and Lafontaine this time. Still, nothing. Perry opened her eyes. 

“I’m sorry,” she said, “I told you, I can’t see them anymore. I’m useless.” 

“No Perr--” Laf moved to reassure their friend.

Laura stared at the cupcake for a long moment, ever-present smile slipping from her face. She turned to give Carmilla a defeated glance. “It didn’t work. We tried my way. We tried your way. And it still didn’t work. What if...what if you’re right?”

“Creampuff you don’t know just from one failed attempt--”

“It’s not just that though, is it? I’ve devoted my whole life, my whole _career_ to this. Is this how it’s going to be for the rest of my life? Chasing down failed ghost stories and never finding anything? Maybe you were right. Maybe the fact that no one’s been able to find anything after all this time is a sign that I should give up. I’m not special. Why did I think that ghosts would show up for me when they don’t show up for anyone else who’s trying to document them--” 

“Cupcake. Stop all of this before I get queasy, all right? It’s true. I’m a cynic. The Hobbesian existence: nasty, brutish, short? I’m perfectly content to believe that that’s what life amounts to. But the world _needs_ people like you. The world needs people who believe in a greater good and who will chase the improbable to the edge of existence. Who believe in something more than just the bare minimum, who use their belief in the magic of the world to make it a better place. Who cares what’s true? If it drives you to do good things to help calm down worried people like Danny instead of laughing in their face like me, isn’t that enough?” 

Carmilla tucked a strand of hair behind Laura’s ear, taking a deep breath. “So yeah. Maybe I don’t think a lot of what you stand for really amounts to anything. But if you can help even one person, give them _hope_ \--well, I say, then look for all the werewolves and freaking leprechauns you want.” 

Laura gave her a look of soft wonder. “Carm I--”

“Reveal yourself.”

Laf was still fussing over Perry and Laura was still halfway through her thought, but in Carmilla’s avoidance of feelings, it was only she who heard Danny who had only barely whispered the words.

And then she glanced back towards the center of the circle where a wispy apparition was beginning to form.

“Oh shit,” muttered Carmilla. “Guys. GUYS.”

“Wha--” the annoyance on their faces rapidly faded when they saw what Carmilla was pointing to.

“Holy shit.”

The room chilled. Laura’s hair started to tickle Carmilla’s cheek and she realized that a wind had picked up. And a soft whisper seemed to follow the breeze. 

_Scared..._

Lafontaine stared at it. Carmilla stared at them. “Well? What’s the gameplan?” 

“I don’t know, I only ever talked to them through Perry! I never saw one!” 

“YOU DIDN’T HAVE A PLAN FOR THAT?!” 

The ghost blinked out of existence. Laura’s eyes were still wide with shock. 

“You scared her!” Laf scowled.

“ _Scared_ her? How the fuck do you know--” 

“No, you did,” Perry said softly. She stood and held out her hand. “It’s okay,” she said softly, “you can come out. We don’t want to hurt you.” 

“Perry, do you see her?” 

“Just for a moment--I could feel how scared she was--and _sad--_ I want to help her. Did you hear that?” Perry raised her voice a little. “I’d like to help you if you’d let me. I _want_ to.” And, one more time, loudly, “Please, show yourself so that we can help you--!” 

Perry’s words choked in her throat. Every candle in the room was blown out and Lafontaine rushed forward to catch Perry when she stumbled backwards. 

“Perry! Are you alright? Perr?” 

She got back to her feet, wobbling a little, like she wasn’t used to using her legs. Perry turned around, and looked at all of them fearfully. 

“Hello…?” 

Her voice was different. It had a slightly melodic lilt. Carmilla hadn’t known her for very long, but she was pretty certain that the person looking at them now was not the same person that had been trying to conduct a seance. 

“Perr,” Lafontaine breathed, reaching out for their friend.

“Oh.” The voice that was Perry and not Perry tilted her head a little to the side. “No that is not my name. My name is Eleanor. But I go by Ell.”

“What did you do with Perry?!”

The same mellifluous voice smiled a soft smile. “She is still here. She was kind enough to let me borrow her body for a few moments so that I might speak. It is terribly difficult to manage a solid state and there are so few people that make such wonderful conduits.”

The quiet of the moment was broken by Danny barging across the circle and grabbing Perry--who was now Ell, which did nothing but hurt Carmilla’s head--by the collar.

“What is it you want with me?!”

Ell blinked, focusing on Danny.

“Oh. Danielle. I am really sorry about all the fuss.”

Danny blinked, clearly not expecting the soft apology. She let go of Ell and took a step back, regarding her with some confusion.

“Uh...thank you, Ell?” 

“What I was doing was quite bothersome, I know that, but those little irksome gestures really are the only way I could find to communicate at all.” 

“But--but all the weird stuff with the TV and the lights?” 

Ell twisted a coil of hair in her finger. “Oh, _that._ Well…” She raised her shoulders a little. “Before you moved into this house it had none of that. It was _terribly_ boring to just sit here. And then you came and suddenly there were lights, and running water, and _television..._ all of these wonderful new things! I died in 1872. I never got to see any of this. So I got a bit...excited.”

“Okay,” Carmilla interrupted, “but what about you showering books on her head?” 

Ell started to turn red. “I, um…” Ell smiled sheepishly. “I missed reading. I didn’t mean for them to _hit_ her just...maybe make her notice them so she would open them and I could take a peek.” 

Carmilla couldn’t help it; the stress of the last few days and the culmination of seeing a real live ghost left her desperately needing an outlet so she started to laugh. 

“I was so upset when I accidentally hit you, Danielle, I am so sorry!” 

“Oh yeah Danny,” Carmilla said sarcastically, “the big bad ghost is totally out to get you.”

“Shut up--” Danny was rapidly turning as red as her hair, “you didn’t even believe me that she existed until a few minutes ago!”

Carmilla snorted and turned to Laura. As long as she kept pushing forward, she didn’t have to think about what she was witnessing.

“So what’s the gameplan short stack? Gonna banish Casper to an alternate dimension or what?”

She stopped short at Laura’s expression.

“W-would you excuse me for a second?” 

Laura exited the bedroom, closing the door behind her. 

“OH MY GODRIC GRYFFINDOR I DID IT I KNEW IT I WAS RIGHT MY ENTIRE LIFE’S WORK HAS BEEN VALIDATED.” 

Laura opened the door again, face lightly flushed from exertion and still beaming from ear to ear. “...So I just need to type up a report on all of this, okay?” 

“Oh. Report. Right. Great,” Danny looked at Ell. “What now?” 

“Could I maybe...read your books?” 

Danny smiled a little. “Sure. I’ll show you the bookshelf.” 

“Wonderful! Oh. One more thing,” Ell bent down, plucking a candle out of the cupcake, then taking a bite. “It has been _so long_ since I could eat!” 

They walked downstairs. Lafontaine stared at them in shock. 

“Oh my God, Perry is _back!_ I mean, not at the moment, but once Ell gets out of her body. She’ll be back. We can work together again! _HA!”_

Lafontaine pointed a finger at Carmilla accustorily. “You owe Laura and I an apology! Who’s the crazy one now, huh? _Huh--”_

Carmilla blinked hazily. Now that the initial adrenaline had worn off, she felt everything she knew threatening to collapse on her. Ghosts were real. The supernatural existed. The world as she knew it would never be the same.

“Laf,” Laura interrupted, smile dimming slightly as she took Carmilla in, “don’t rub it in. This is...a lot for Carmilla to take in.” 

Carmilla didn’t even realize it until Laura put a hand on her back, but she was shaking. 

A ghost. She’d seen a ghost. _Ghosts existed._ Lafontaine saw the look Laura was giving her and raised an eyebrow. 

“I’m...going to go put the amplifier back in the car. You guys do you.” 

Carmilla sat down on Danny’s bed. Laura smiled at her. 

“So…” 

“A ghost. That was a _ghost_.” 

“Not a mass hallucination?” 

Carmilla glared at her. “I’m skeptical, not delusional Cupcake.” 

“Sorry, sorry,” Laura sat down next to Carmilla, “it’s hard not to brag a little. Even if I don’t want to be mean about it like Laf. How do you feel?” 

“Like my entire view of the world has been utterly upended.” 

“So you’ll take my theories seriously from now on?” 

“Well, ghosts definitely exist.” 

“So supernatural creatures aren’t so stupid anymore?” 

Carmilla wrinkled her nose. “I draw the line at werewolves and vampires.” 

“You should sit in on one of my classes then!” Laura said cheerfully, “we’re about to start a unit on famous werewolf sightings and I think if you continue to keep your mind open--” 

“Laura. Thanks for the offer. But, no offense, just because ghosts are apparently a thing doesn’t mean that I suddenly believe all of your more _extreme_ theories. ” 

Laura frowned. “...Oh, I get it,” she answered, “you’d rather continue being super cynical because it’s easier to keep thinking I’m crazy. Well, I’m not going to be like you no matter how far in denial _you_ want to be--” 

“God, Laura, you’re crazy if you think I _want_ you to be anything like me.” 

Carmilla regarded her, reaching out a hand to gently grasp Laura’s in hers.

“Look, I’m...I’m happy for you, alright? Just...this is a lot to process. Start with ghosts, okay?”

Laura stared at her, something in her eyes shifting, as if she could see Carmilla laid bare in front of her, a small smile just stretching the corners of her lips. “Just you wait Karnstein. I’ll make a believer of you yet.” 

Carmilla glanced away, embarrassed. “...Let’s go check on the others.” 

***

“Okay, so basically if you want the water to be _hot_ though, it goes through this thing called a water heater, and that heats it up so it’s warm when it comes through the pipes.” 

Ell nodded at Danny. “Oh that’s wonderful! Where does the water come from, though?” 

She had a book open in her lap, watching Danny attentively. With one hand she held a remote, quickly cycling through channels on Danny’s TV. 

“Um...we have a sewage system. There’s kind of a...tank that holds the water? Let me google that…” 

“What is google?” 

“You type things into it--look.” 

Ell leaned closer to Danny to look at her smartphone. Laura and Carmilla walked up to Laf, who looked like they were silently fuming. 

“Einstein, what’s got you so bothered?”

“They...are... _flirting.”_

“Wait, what?” Laura squinted at them. 

“DANNY...IS...FLIRTING...WITH PERRY.” 

“It isn’t _Perry,_ it’s the...ghost possessing her,” Carmilla frowned. “Well, shit, that’s weird.” 

“I know!” 

Laura raised her voice. “Hey, Danny! Come here a second?” 

Danny looked up. “Oh, sure guys! One sec, Ells.” 

She walked up to them. “What’s up guys?” 

“So...not an evil ghost, right…?” 

“No! She’s fine. I’ve been showing her things and it’s actually been pretty fun.” 

“Great, great,” Lafontaine hissed, “now make her leave my friend’s body so we can finish her ghost busting!” 

“Finish…?” 

“Didn’t you want your house to be...not haunted? It’ll probably bring the property value down at the very least.” 

“Oh. Um,” Danny rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly. “Do you guys think...maybe...we don’t do that?” 

Carmilla’s mouth opened slightly. “You want to _keep_ your ghost roommate?” 

“She’s cool!” Danny answered defensively, “I’ve been talking to her and Ell is actually really nice and sweet and uh...yeah. I wouldn’t mind keeping her around. She doesn’t seem like she dislikes being a ghost either so ‘busting’ her feels kind of...rude? I guess?” 

Lafontaine asked, “you realize that she doesn’t have a body, right? You realize that she is _dead?”_

Danny started to turn red. “That is _not_ why--what, I can’t have a ghost as a friend?”

“Look, bigger picture here,” Carmilla said, “get her out of Perry’s body, and we don’t give a shit what weird... _thing_ you want to have with your ghost friend after that. Okay?” 

Danny turned around, looking at Ell and biting her lip. “Ell, I’m sorry, but they need their friend back.” 

Ell nodded. “I did enjoy my time here, but I cannot overstay Perry’s gracious hospitality.”

Danny frowned. “Will I get to see you again?”

Ell smiled. “I am working on it. Corporeal form is still something I struggle with.”

“Oh! Oooh!” Now that the prospect of getting Perry back was assured, Laf was free to concentrate on the science. Their eyes lit up. “I might be able to help with that.”

Laura laughed as she turned away, the sounds of Laf’s increasingly excited science meshing with Ell’s soft enthusiasm and Danny’s brightening countenance. After a moment Laura heard Perry’s voice. She looked back and saw Danny holding Perry up. 

“Lafontaine...what happened…? Did it work?” 

“You did awesome, Perr! I’ll tell you all about it,” Lafontaine grabbed Perry gently by the elbow, “let’s get you to a chair to rest up while I work on some formulas for Ell and Danny…” 

“I...I did it? I did!” She looked exhausted, but was beaming when Lafontaine started to lead her out. 

“I need to go,” Laura said to Danny, “I have a lot of essays I really should have graded last night. Call me if you need any more help?” 

They exchanged numbers. Normally the thought of grading papers would be enough to dampen even Laura’s mood, but she couldn’t stop smiling. 

She’d had her whole life’s work validated and everything seemed to be slipping into place.

Laura pushed open the door, squinting into the bright sunlight. It might have been only a night and yet it felt like they’d been in that house for ten years.

Laura turned slightly when a shadow appeared over her shoulder. She was unsurprised to see Carmilla leaning in the doorway, leather jacket thrown over one shoulder, the same disaffected calm she’d always had. 

Carmilla shot her a wry grin. 

“So what now McGonagall? Now that all your magical dreams have come true?”

Laura smiled back. “You think that’s an insult, but I would be _proud_ to be half the professor McGonagall was.”

Carmilla laughed, the sound loud and free, ringing into the air.

“Of course you would,” she replied, though the fondness was definitely seeping into her tone. “Bet that turns you on. What would you even do if I called you Hermione Granger?”

Laura shoved her, laughing a little. 

Carmilla smiled, letting it reach the corners of her eyes. “But seriously. What next?”

Laura hopped off the step, turning halfway back towards Carmilla with a sly smile on her face.

“Now? Now I think you owe me a date.”

She gave herself the half-second’s pleasure of watching Carmilla’s eyes widen, before bounding down the path.

“Wai-wait cupcake are you serious? Cupcake? Laura!”

Laura grinned to herself.

Today was going to be a beautiful day. 

***

The ringing of the phone was harsh, slicing through the peaceful silence of the night.

A hand reached out towards the nightstand, fumbling blindly until it found the phone.

There was a cracking yawn as a figure just barely illuminated through the moonlight in the window sat up slightly.

“Hello?”

“Laura? I’m so sorry to call you so late!”

Laura rubbed at an eye. 

“Danny? It’s fine. What is it?”

“I have a friend with an emergency.”

Laura listened with growing alarm, before reaching out to grab her notepad and a pen and scribbling down a few lines as Danny spoke. 

“Uh huh. Uh huh. Yeah. Yeah okay. Got it. I’ll call them. Right. Bye.”

Laura ended the call just as another hand ghosted up her side and yanked her back down. Laura let out an undignified yelp, that quickly transformed into a small moan when lips began trailing kisses down her neck.

“Mmm cupcake. We only went to bed a couple hours ago. Way too early to be back up. Clearly I didn’t do my job right if you still have energy after all that.”

Laura huffed a laugh, turning to face Carmilla.

“That was Danny.”

Carmilla made a small humming sound before she busied herself sliding her lips down Laura’s sternum.

Laura groaned before pulling Carmilla back up to her for a heated kiss. Their tongues clashed for a hot moment before Laura was pulling away. Carmilla let out a sound of displeasure.

“Ugh fine. What did the ginger giant want?”

Laura’s eyes gleamed with excitement.

“We’re getting the crew back together again. We’re going ghostbusting!”


End file.
